 Michelle at More Art 4 All is hosting Poetry Friday. The last one for 2024! How can that be? The Poetry Sisters December Challenge to write a Haibun. The Poetry Sisters, Tanita, Laura, Mary Lee, Liz, Sara, Tricia, and Kelly have haibuns for your reading enjoyment.  The universe gained another star this week. I love glimmering stars but honestly, I think there have been enough people to reach the stars this year. I don’t remember if it was the Highlights Foundation or Georgia Heard’s workshop during Covid in which I met Beth Brody. Something connected with us and I had the good fortune to talk poetry, take more workshops, and share poetry for feedback with her over the last five to six years. This past year a quartet of us had met via Zoom to talk poetry about every six weeks. It was apparent that Beth was struggling with an undetermined health issue. This fall, the diagnosis of lymphoma was given and Beth was on her way with chemotherapy treatments. In my text over the weekend, we talked about a David Baker class that she’d signed for and the importance of not overdoing. So it was a shock to hear from her dear husband, Bob, that she had passed away on Monday. I will miss her. She was the queen of poetry punctuation and line breaks. I learned so much from her. She was so encouraging and funny. When she shared the diagnosis and treatment, she wrote she would emerge with the daffodils. I will be waiting for my daffodils to emerge this year. I plan on holding a poetry gathering via Zoom to honor her. You’re invited. Obituary Beth Brody, Writer  I love the haibun form. This year I had two accepted into the Portland Haiku Society chapter's anthology.
Crossing Bridges is a new haibun anthology by The Portland Haiku Group, edited by Shelley Baker-Gard and Shasta Hatter. Our anthology features haibun by ALXSw, Ellen Ankenbrock, Steve Bahr, Shelley Baker-Gard, Chandra Bales, John Budan, Terry Ann Carter, Maggie Chula, Lisa Gerlits, Shasta Hatter, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Cathy Merritt, James Rodriguez, David H. Rosen, Ce Rosenow, Diana Saltoon, Jacob D. Salzer, Marilyn Stablein, John Stevenson, Carolyn Winkler, and Johnny Baranski. Crossing Bridges was published by Lulu Press, Inc. in 2024, and also features artwork by Carolyn Winkler. Crossing Bridges is available to purchase on lulu.com for $15 USD. The following haibun is one that I've been working on about a place from my childhood. The Knolls Late summer after fifth grade, my family moved. Dad accepted a teaching position and we were having a house built. Grandma called our new location, “the god-forsaken valley.” We had a six month wait as our house was built. Scouring the real estate ads in the newspaper, my parents found a cabin-like house. It was nestled among scrub oak, California lilac, and sumac, a change from manicured lawns. We moved in. Definitely not built to code. I adored the house’s quirky ways. My bedroom closet was lined in cedar. I could walk in it and inhale its woodsiness. It was the enchanted forest I dreamt of many nights. Everyday, the bus would drop me off at the bottom of our dirt road driveway. It was the best adventure. Mom felt otherwise. My brother and I tracked in dirt, leaves, and sometimes mud from playing outside. At night, coyotes howled. Often, my night emergency room nurse mother was greeted in the morning by our neighbor, a wizened tattooed lady, offering her a beer. two months later moving truck brand new apartment © jone rush macculloch
Welcome poetry friends! Normally I have this posted the night before. Yesterday I helped my former school out and sub late minute. I came home with a sinus headache (old HVAC system) and climbed into bed early.
Woke this morning fresh and ready for all the activities the season offers. AND to write today's post inviting all of you to leave yours! Today there are cloudy skies and I am not sure that sunrise will be the spectacular of last year's solstice sunrise and tomorrow will be solid rain. So I'll share one from last year and some poems that I've been writing to celebrate with Advent Photo-of-the-Day. Last Call for New Year Post Cards
It's 11 days until the new year! Time to start thinking of sending New Year Post Cards! I've have also been thinking that this is an excellent way to incorporate the small poems that some have been writing thanks to Mary Lee Hahn and the hashtag #haikuforhealing2024 and mine #haikuforresilience2024 and for 2025: #poetryforpersistence
Send five, send ten or send to all? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
Click here to join us: 2025 New Year Post Card Exchange Next week, I'll have the details about the Poetry for Persistence Event on Saturday, January 18, 2025, Estimated time frame: 11 AM-2 PM EST, 8 AM-11 AM PST, I will have a Zoom Writing and Creating Salon as a place to write for #haikuforpersistence2025 and #poetryforpersistence2025. I will be honest, I am a teeny bit scared about hosting this salon. I am hoping to share some mentor poems (DM me if you have one that would be good), having writing time, and share in community if you feel moved. Also, I think I want to have a co-host to help me monitoring the Zoom room and tech (DM me if interested) I am also suggesting that you make a donation to a charity of your choice. I am seriously considering donating to Planned Parenthood. Details and sign up some. You know, in some ways this is my2024 OLW (Expand) in action. If you're planning on attending, will this time frame: 11 AM-2 PM EST, 8 AM-11 AM PST work? Is two hours long enough(I originally thought three but wonder if shorter is better. Or if 10-1 EST 7-10 PST is better. Input is appreciated. Linda at A Word Edgewise is sharing poetry play by mashing up two poems together, cento poem. It's fun to peek at her writing journal. We lost a giant in the poetry world this week, Nikki Giovanni. Poet, professor, activist, her poems resonated in so many ways. I found on Nikki Grimes's FB page. The image of the snowflake is swoony. My former co-worker shared Ego Tripping by Nikki Giovanni with his fourth graders. Winter Poem once a snowflake fell on my brow and i loved it so much and i kissed it and it was happy and called its cousins and brothers and a web of snow engulfed me then i reached to love them all and i squeezed them and they became a spring rain and i stood perfectly still and was a flower Nikki Giovanni, “Winter Poem” from The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni. Copyright © 1996 by Nikki Giovanni. Courtesy of HarperCollins Publisher. I am looking forward to her last collection which will be published fall 2025 2025 Poetry Postcards 2024 New Year Post Card It's 20 days until the new year! Time to start thinking of sending New Year Post Cards! I've have also been thinking that this is an excellent way to incorporate the small poems that some have been writing thanks to Mary Lee Hahn and the hashtag #haikuforhealing2024 and mine #haikuforresilience2024 and for 2025: #poetryforpersistence Send five, send ten or send to all? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
Click here to join us: 2025 New Year Post Card Exchange Announcement:#haikuforpersistence2025 #poetryforpersistence2025As we begin 2025, there will be changes and challenges for us. Many of us were hoping for a different outcome last November. On Saturday, January 18, 2025, 10AM-3 PM EST , 7 AM-12PM PST, I will have a Zoom Writing and Creating Salon as a place to write for #haikuforpersistence2025 and #poetryforpersistence2025.
I will be honest, I am a teeny bit scared about hosting this salon. I am hoping to share some mentor poems (DM me if you have one that would be good), having writing time, and share in community if you feel moved. Also, I think I want to have a co-host to help me monitoring the Zoom room and tech (DM me if interested) I am also suggesting that you make a donation to a charity of your choice. I am seriously considering donating to Planned Parenthood. Details and sign up some. You know, in some ways this is my OLW (Expand) in action.  Kim Johnson hosted Spiritual Journey Thursday with the topic of 'Wintering". She recently finished reading Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. It is a TBR book on my imaginary pile for a while. The fabulous Carol at The Apples in My Orchard is hosting Poetry Friday. She's reflecting on caring for her father and the seasonal transitions. I researched quotes by Katherine May and found several that rang true to me: When it’s really cold, the snow makes a lovely noise underfoot, and it’s like the air is full of stars.” — Katherine May “That is wintering. It is the active acceptance of sadness. It is the practice of allowing ourselves to feel it as a need. It is the courage to stare down the worst parts of our experience and to commit to healing them the best we can.” — Katherine May “We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”— Katherine May  I also follow Christine Valters Paintner. I subscribe to daily messages. This recent one tied in so beautifully with the topic of wintering, I love all the seasons. The season I am in is my favorite. They each bring a unique rhythm. The invitation of winter invites me to begin the day by having tea and the gas fire lit. I watch as sunrise shows up. This year as part of wintering and the Christmas season, I have be participating in the "Advent Photo-of-the-Day". I am enjoying the challenge to photo something for the word of the day and creating a tiny poem for #haikuforhealing24 and #haikuforpersistence24. Below are some of the recent haiku for wintering and being in the season.
It's 28 days until the new year! Time to start thinking of sending New Year Post Cards! I've have also been thinking that this is an excellent way to incorporate the small poems that some have been writing thanks to Mary Lee Hahn and the hashtag #haikuforhealing2024 and mine #haikuforresilience2024. Send five, send ten or send to all? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
Click here to join us: 2025 New Year Post Card Exchange Announcement: #haikuforpersistence2025 #poetryforpersistence2025As we begin 2025, there will be changes and challenges for us. Many of us were hoping for a different outcome last November. On Saturday, January 18, 2025, 10AM-3 PM EST , 7 AM-12PM PST, I will have a Zoom Writing and Creating Salon as a place to write for #haikuforpersistence2025 and #poetryforpersistence2025.
I will be honest, I am a teeny bit scared about hosting this salon. I am hoping to share some mentor poems (DM me if you have one that would be good), having writing time, and share in community if you feel moved. Also, I think I want to have a c0-host to help me monitoring the Zoom room and tech (DM me if interested) I am also suggesting that you make a donation to a charity of your choice. I am seriously considering donating to Planned Parenthood. Details and sign up some. You know, in some ways this is my OLW (Expand) in action. |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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